Destiny
by fairyMei33
Summary: Hitomi goes back to Gaea to face a new threat. Some guests come with this time.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not owned by me.  
Dang it.

The boy was beautiful. Even with his unruly raven hair (which he had long since abandoned trying to tame) and red mahogany eyes that were gentle and piercing at the same time. He was a little too slim to be called physically impressive, but he moved with the grace of a skilled warrior, and carried himself with an assurance befitting his rank.  
However, at that moment, there was no assurance in his stance. He raised his face above the pressing heat of the flames that roared around him. "Hitomi," he whispered, his voice a desperate plea.

The girl was not beautiful. There was too much sense in her face for that, but there was a harmony to her features, a unity of profile, that one felt eased when gazing upon her. Her movements were flowing. Fluid. The slightest gesture more expressive than any actor could hope to be, because her movements seemed to be as much a part of nature as of herself, as if in simply living, she was expressing the wishes of the universe. Her hair was slightly longer than shoulder length and was the exact color of crystallized honey. Her eyes were wide and a gentle forest green that somehow seemed to unmovingly search every person she met, as if she could see their entire life in their face.  
This quality had only appeared in her two years before. Overnight, she had gone from being an average slightly-pretty teenage highschool girl into someone who somehow seemed to know all the secrets of life and was only playing the part of a teenage highschool girl.  
However, at that moment, she seemed like any other girl as she sat up in her bed gasping, her body drenched with a cold sweat. Fearful, she looked out her window, up into the sky beside the moon.  
Gaea. It wasn't there. Two weeks now and she still couldn't see it. At the same time, her communication with Van had been cut off, infrequent even as that was. She missed both with a longing that was a physical pain, as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest.  
The dreams - nightmares - had begun a week later. Horrible images of Gaian cities burning, her friends desperately trying to defend themselves but still being injured. Dryden laying still on a bed with bloody bandages tied around him, Millerna crying beside him. Allen in tattered clothes, fighting despite the deep wound on his arm and leg. Chid in slightly burned clothes watching sadly on the deck of an airship as Freid burned.  
Tonight had been the worst. Van, holding an unconscious Merle as the newly rebuilt Fanelia burned again.  
"Oh, God," she whispered into the night. "Please let them just be nightmares..."

The next day was bright and cloudless, making it hard to believe there was trouble on Gaea, but Hitomi still felt uneasy.  
She walked into the kitchen as her mother was just beginning to make breakfast.  
"Oh," her mother exclaimed, "you're up early." She put a pot of water on the stove to boil and took the tea set out. "Something wrong?"  
"No, just a bad night," Hitomi sighed, helping her mother set the table. "I kept having nightmares." She sat down at her place at the table.  
"You've been having them all week," her mother said, looking at her daughter out of the corner of her eye as she poured dried rice into the boiling water, stirred it once, and covered it. She came over to the table and sat down across from Hitomi. "You know you can talk to me about anything."  
Hitomi smiled at her mother, although it was a very sad, heart- catching smile. How could she tell her mother about everything that had happened to her? "I know, Mom," she said.  
Her mother looked at her as if she knew Hitomi had something she wanted to tell her, but couldn't. "All right," she sighed, patting her daughter's hand lightly, as if to say, 'whenever you're ready.'  
She rose, stirred the rice, and started making some scrambled eggs.  
"Something sure smells good," her father said, coming down the stairs and entering the kitchen, followed by Hitomi's little brother.  
"Yumm!" he exclaimed, bounding into his place beside Hitomi, holding his chopsticks as if the food were already in front of him.  
Hitomi laughed and ruffled his hair.

"How you feeling? Not too tired?" her father asked as he drove the family to the national track meet. "If you don't feel up to it, you don't have to run," he said, but Hitomi could hear the disappointment in his voice at the notion.  
"I feel fine. Don't worry Dad," she said, double checking her bag for the fifth time in the last half hour.  
There was no way she could back out of this, even if she had wanted to. This was the first time her school had made it to Nationals. The whole school was either going to be there rooting for her - the star runner - or watching it on television. She couldn't let them all down.  
Her father parked the car. They flashed little badges that allowed them to enter the locker room.  
"You'll do fine," her father said at the entrance to the girls' locker room, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. Then they left to find their seats.  
As soon as she had entered the locker room, someone tackled her from behind, sending her sprawling across the floor.


	2. Going Away

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.  
  
As soon as she had entered the locker room, someone tackled her from behind, sending her sprawling across the floor.  
"We're here! We're here! We made it! I can't believe we made it to Nationals!" the body on top of her exclaimed.  
Hitomi couldn't help it. She started to laugh. "Get off me, Yukari," she gasped out between laughs, "or I won't be able to run!"  
Yukari climbed off her, wiping breathless tears from her eyes as she went into another gale of hysterical laughter. "I just... can't believe... we made it..." she said between breaths, "and... it's all because... of you."  
"Yukari..." Hitomi began. "No, it's true. You carried this team this far," she said, finally recomposing herself. "I just know you're going to come in first."  
She rose, giving Hitomi her hands to help her star runner to her feet.  
  
************  
  
"Runners to the line," the voice said, sounding metallic over the speaker.  
Yukari gave her a thumbs up sign as Hitomi stepped into the starters with a half dozen other girls.  
'Hitomi...' The word was almost more emotional than physical.  
Hitomi looked around her, but none of the other girls seemed to have heard.  
'Van?...' she thought, but there was no reply. She turned her head back down to the starting position, feeling uneasy.  
The gun went off and she leapt off the blocks.  
Her legs pumped, her feet barely touched the ground before leaving it again. She flew towards the finish line, ahead of everyone else.  
She crossed it! 11.36 seconds!  
  
'Hitomi!...' It was more solid this time. Hitomi was sure he was calling her.  
'Van!...' she called out silently, feeling a reply, but not hearing it. Something was wrong.  
  
"Hitomi, you did it! You won! You won!" Yukari yelled, running up and throwing her arms around Hitomi as her family and Amano came running over to add their congratulations, only a few steps ahead of the reporters and their TV cameras.  
  
'HITOMI...HElp me...' the call came, fading so quickly that Hitomi's heart quickened.  
  
"Hitomi Kanzaki, right? How do you feel?" a reporter asked her blank expression.  
"She's great! Just a little stunned I think," Yukari answered for her. "I'm Yukari Kuzino, her team manager..." "So what are your plans now? What are you doing after this? Maybe the Olympics?"  
"We're going to take things one step at a time and hope for the best."  
  
'Hitomi...'  
  
"He needs me," she whispered. The air around her growing lighter. Small pebbles began floating up, but no one noticed.  
"Hitomi?" her mother asked, looking into fearful blank eyes, seeing something other than her daughter.  
"I have to go!!" Hitomi exclaimed, the air around her suddenly turning to a brilliant pillar of dazzling light that illuminated the entire stadium.  
The reporters gasped and drew back.  
Hitomi began floating off the ground, her hair swirling around her as the light unbound it from the ponytail she had tied it in.  
"Hitomi!" her family cried, reaching for her, managing only to be caught in the light themselves.  
The pillar left as abruptly as it had come, vanishing into the sky, leaving a very stunned and confused crowd.  
  
***********  
  
The light deposited Mr. and Mrs. Kanzaki and their son in the middle of a field. Hitomi was not there.  
"HITOMI!" they called into the night. 


	3. Lady Hitomi

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.  
  
The light deposited Mr. and Mrs. Kanzaki and their son in the middle of a field. Hitomi was not there.  
"HITOMI!" they called into the night.  
  
At the burned down gates of Fanelia, Hitomi, Yukari, and Amano arrived.  
Yukari knelt and shook her head unsteadily, putting a hand up to her eyes. "What the..." she began.  
"Van?!?" Hitomi yelled over her, "Van where are you?!?"  
"What are you..." Yukari said looking up at her friend, then stared at the ruins of the city they stood before. "Where are we?" she whispered.  
""Van! Van, answer me!!" Hitomi called. Then started in.  
Amano caught her arm. "It's too dangerous," he said, "we don't even know where we are."  
Hitomi shook his hand off her. "We're in Fanelia, and I don't care how dangerous it is. I HAVE to find Van!" she exclaimed running into the still smoking ruins.  
"Come on, we have to follow her," Amano said, pulling Yukari to her feet.  
Hitomi ran through the ruins, making her way to what was left of the palace. If she had come to Fanelia, Van must still be in the castle. But why? Why would he stay in a collapsing building? And where was he? Where in the castle?  
"Lady Hitomi!"  
Hitomi turned to see Allen digging in the castle debris. His hair was shorter, jawlength, looking as if it had been hastily hacked off with a sword. His clothes were tattered and his right arm sleeve was missing entirely, showing a long cut on his arm.  
"Lady Hitomi..." he said again, his voice going gentle. "You're all right then? We were afraid something terrible had happened to you."  
"What happened? Where's Van?" she asked him, ripping the lower part of her shirt off and wrapping it around his cut arm.  
"In there, somewhere," Allen said, nodding toward the rubble. "We got out, but Merle didn't. Van went back in to look for her. It collapsed before he could get out."  
"Hitomi!" Yukari's voice called as footsteps approached quickly.  
"Was this the last place you saw him?" she asked the knight.  
"Yes," he said, flinching for a moment as Hitomi tightened the dressing to stop the bleeding.  
A hand suddenly grabbed Hitomi's shoulder and pulled her away from Allen rather roughly, causing her to land on her back.  
Allen's hand whipped around and the sword-tip hovered a centimeter away from Amano's throat.  
They stared at each other. So did Yukari. They looked just like each other!  
"Who are you?" Allen demanded in Amano's voice. "What do you want with Lady Hitomi?"  
"Lady Hitomi?" Yukari asked breathlessly.  
Hitomi merely gave a tired laugh as she got up. "Cool it Allen," she said.  
Yukari and Amano were amazed when Allen resheathed his sword at her command.  
"Amano, Allen. Allen, Amano," she said gesturing to each of them. "And that's Yukari. Now Allen, do you know what caused this? What started the fire?"  
"I don't know. One minute we were talking about relief supplies, the next, the whole city's on fire," he replied, still eyeing Amano.  
"All right, now everyone keep quiet. I haven't done this in a while," Hitomi said. She closed her eyes, imagining her pendent in front of her as she concentrated on Van. It swung once, twice, then stopped.  
Her eyes snapped open. "This way," she yelled, running over the castle debris, then began digging about fifteen meters away. "Come on, help me!"  
Allen came running over to her and started lifting rocks out of her way. "You going to help or not?" he demanded when Yukari and Amano didn't move to help them.  
They came over and started pulling rocks out of the hole Hitomi was making, a little confused about what was going on.  
Suddenly, they could hear coughing under the stones Hitomi was working out. They stared at each other, but Hitomi and Allen didn't seemed surprised at all.  
"Hold on, we're almost there!" Hitomi yelled, sliding her fingers along the edge of a slab of stone. "On three," she said. "One. Two. Three!" Together they all pulled it off.  
A boy and a girl climbed up, out of the hole, both coughing. The boy was about Hitomi's age and the girl... the girl was...  
"Yaaaahhh!" Yukari yelped as she jumped away in surprise.  
"Well you're not such a good sight either!" the cat girl exclaimed, her ears going flat against her head and her tail puffing up. Then she sat down and began cleaning her paws and face.  
"Van," Hitomi said, helping the boy stand up, "are you all right?"  
"Yes," he coughed. "I knew you'd come." He pulled Hitomi to him, holding her gently in his arms.  
Allen sighed and sat down. Van's head snapped up. "Allen!" he exclaimed, coming to kneel in front of him. "Are you all right?"  
Allen laughed. "I wasn't the one stuck under a building for most of the day."  
"Uh, hello," Amano said.  
Van glanced at him for a second. "Oh, you again," he commented dryly.  
Hitomi punched him in the arm, "Thank them, they helped get you out." 


	4. The Lady of Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.  
  
"Please!" Midori cried to the passing wagon, "Please, have you seen a young girl with light brown hair around here?"  
The man in the driver's seat looked at them. A missing child was sad, but not unusual; but these people!! The woman wore a dress that reached to her feet, but had no flare, and must have been uncomfortable to walk around in. There was a roll-shaped pillow attached to the fabric at the small of her back and she wore some kind of sandals on her feet. The man had on a normal looking brown shirt, but the driver had never seen pants like those before. The boy wore the same style pants, but his shirt was an off-blue.  
"You're not from around here, are you?" the driver asked.  
"Well, no," Tetsyu replied. "We're not even sure where we are."  
"Thought so," the driver nodded. He jumped down from the wagon. "I haven't seen the girl, but you can ride with us if you want. We're all going to Fanelia. Chances are, someone else'll pick her up and bring her there too."  
  
********later that night*******  
  
"Who's the Lady of Dreams?" Shuzu asked curiously, looking up from his plate of food that was rapidly diminishing in size.  
"Ah, the Lady of Dreams," the Elder sighed, leaning his back against the wagon wheel. He put a pipe in his mouth and puffed it a few times before continuing. "She was a girl who came from the Mystic Moon."  
"I heard she had three eyes and red hair!" a little boy exclaimed as he crouched closer to listen to the tale.  
"No, no," a man reprimanded him, "She had long black hair and red eyes." He rolled his eyes skyward in an expression of exasperation, muttering, "Three eyes... where does he get this stuff..."  
"Regardless of what she looked like," the Elder broke in, continuing his story, "she came from the Mystic Moon, and saved all of Gaia."  
"She saved... Gaia?" Midori asked hesitantly. "How?"  
"The Lady of Dreams can see the past and future. She led King Van and a Knight of Calie to defeat the evil Emperor Dornkirk and his Destiny Machine."  
"Destiny Machine?" Tetsyu repeated, confused.  
"It granted everyone's wishes," the Elder explained.  
"Cool!" Shuzu replied. "Why'd they want to destroy it?"  
"Because not everyone's wishes are the same," the Elder said, "and it caused wars to break out. Hundreds of people were killed in just the few minutes it was activated."  
"What happened to her?" Midori asked.  
"After it was destroyed, the Lady simply disappeared. A bright light came out of the sky and carried her away. Back to the Mystic Moon." The Elder puffed his pipe again. "While she was here, she united many nations against the Zaibach Empire, and laid the foundations for a planetary peace."  
"She sounds like quite a girl," Midori said.  
"She was... she was. I had never seen anyone so... peaceful."  
"You saw her?!" the man who had scolded the child exclaimed.  
The silence that fell over the camp was as stunned and complete as if the Elder had said he'd seen the face of God. Even nature seemed to hold it's breath.  
"Yes, just for a moment," the Elder said. "I had been escorting a noble to the meeting. I don't know why, but I looked up, and there she was, sitting on the rooftop of the palace."  
"She was looking at the Mystic Moon, her face upturned to the stars. The last of the sun's light shining on her golden hair. It shone like a sun by itself. She was wearing a long white dress that draped around her, like she was resting on a cloud.  
"Then, as if she had known I would be there, looking at her, she turned and looked back at me. She must have known I would be there, at that very moment, because she wasn't surprised at all. Her eyes met mine in a second. I'd never seen a green like that before. I haven't since. It was like looking into the very heart of nature. Then, she smiled."  
"And. at that moment. I knew. Her smile was gentle, but it was like all of Gaea rejoiced at it. The stars seemed brighter. The wind warmer. The flowers lovelier. Just by looking at her, I felt at peace. Happy. Alive."  
"And then, she was gone. The setting sunlight swallowed her in it's golden embrace, and she was gone when it retreated."  
The entire camp seemed to let out it's collectively held breath. The silence stretched into the night, claiming any attempt of reply or questions. Then, slowly, people began wandering to their beds for the night. Quiet as they thought about the Lady of Dreams.  
"You should rest now," the Elder told the Kanzaki family. "It'll be a hard trip if we want to reach Fanelia by midday tomorrow."  
Quietly, they nodded, still thinking about the story the Elder had just told. 


	5. Meeting A Lady

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.  
  
'Fanelia,' as the people called it, lay in ruins. The buildings' roofs collapsed inside the walls that would normally support them. Some remained more or less intact, but many were completely destroyed.  
The surroundings, however, did not seem to affect any of the people that filled the streets. Happy chatter and laughter filled the air as children played in the ruins and adults conversed over their work.  
Even the wagon train seemed surprised at the attitude of the refugees.  
  
"What happened here?" Midori whispered aloud, stunned by the destruction she saw around her.  
"I don't know," the driver replied. "Fanelia was just finished being rebuilt."  
"We should go the palace and offer out assistance to the King," the trail leader said loudly, to many murmured agreements.  
Even in it's destruction, Fanelia seemed beautiful. The sky was a clear blue, there was a light warm breeze drifting through the ruins, strangely, smelling not of smoke, but of waterfalls and green fields. Between the remains of buildings and shattered stones flowers grew abundantly. Any spare space of ground not covered by the cobbled roadways were blooming with hundreds of different types of flowers, their faces glistening with the morning dew still caught on the petals.  
As they neared the ruins of the palace, the flowers seemed to defy physics, growing even on wooden beams and in the cracks of stone. They became even more varied in species and more vibrant in color.  
  
"I've never seen so many flowers, Hitomi!" Merle exclaimed, looking wide-eyed over the ruins of the castle, which now seemed more like a hill completely hidden by the multitude of flowers growing abundantly out of it. There was not a single clear space to see the ruins underneath.  
"It must be because of all the ashes from the fire," Van mused, his voice quiet but audible.  
"I'm really glad we could find something better for you to wear Hitomi. What exactly WAS that thing you were wearing anyway?" Merle asked, her voice somehow managing to be insinuating and innocent at the same time.  
"It was a running outfit," Hitomi said, ignoring the fight Merle had been trying to start, absently smoothing out the folds of the dress around her.  
Her eyes closed in confusion for a moment, before a her lips graced a gentle smile.  
"Van, some travelers are here," she said, still facing the flower- covered ruins. "They're here to help."  
Not waiting for his reply, eager to greet the travelers, she climbed the blossom covered rubble easily. She came to the top and looked down upon the wagon train that was rounding the last bend of the road to where the palace was.  
She smiled joyously, folding her hands up against her chest, clasping them expectantly for their arrival.  
  
The wagon train rounded the last bend in the road and suddenly were faced with the largest mound of most beautiful flowers any of them had ever seen.  
Atop the flower-strewn hill, stood a woman in a white flowing dress that rippled lightly in the warm breeze. The dress was split on the lower half, the shoulder straps extending into a cape behind her that rippled and waved like a greeting. Her hair, glowing as golden as a ripened wheat field shining in the summer sun, streamed around her. Her slim arms were brought up in front of her expectantly, clasped together slightly under her jaw, her face adorned with a dazzling smile of joyous and honored welcome. Her eyes met the train immediately, like she had been patiently waiting for them to appear.  
Everyone present would have sworn for all the world that, at that moment, they felt like the most beloved of people in existence.  
Three people came up behind her, two men and one girl. The man to the left of the girl was tall and regal, his jaw length golden-blond hair bright and clean, but lacking the glow the girls' seemed to emit. He wore a blue uniform that, although torn, still looked official with a sword at his side.  
The man on her right was very young, looking eighteen, and very slim. He had black hair that seemed naturally unruly in an attractive fashion, a large strand falling over one of his eyes. The uncovered eye shone with more life than most would have expected of a boy his size and age. Determination, pride, compassion, and honor. It was a contrast to his clothing: a sleeveless red shirt with unused ties partway down the front, tan pants, brown boots, and a very official looking sword hung by a belt slung diagonally over his slim hips.  
The girl to the right of him was younger than him, maybe sixteen, but acting very shy, peeking out from behind the man. Her hair was a strange pink, cut just a little longer than jaw length but curled at the ends. She wore a plain beige dress with white puffs at her shoulders. The Kanzaki family barely even noticed the girl's companions, their eyes riveted to the girl. Somehow, she seemed familiar, but also otherworldly at the same time. Her hair like spun sunlight that caressed her face and shoulders, her dress was woven clouds that wished only to grace her form. Impossibly, she seemed more like a divine being over earth and soul alike, than a mere human. Someone who knew the worst of mankind and their abilities for evil, but was the embodiment of all the hopes, dreams, and purity of every living thing in existence since time first began. She was. magical.  
The Elder stepped forward slightly, gasping. "The Lady of Dreams," he whispered, his voice, though little more than a sigh on the breeze, carried through the entire group as clearly as if he had yelled it aloud. The group all gasped, staring for a moment, before, like a wave, collectively bowing before her. Falling onto one knee, their heads lowered to the ground in respect.  
Even the Kanzaki's bowed to the girl. It somehow seemed appropriate, necessary even, to show her this respect.  
  
Hitomi watched as the group came into view, and saw them all stare at her in something very like amazement and wonder. Somehow she knew she was the focus of the group and not the people whom had followed her up the wreckage, distinguished as they were. To her astonishment, the leader of the train gasped something, something that hung in the air like a pronunciation of divinity, and like a ribbon in the wind, they all bowed to her. She heard a slightly uneasy chuckle behind her. "Um, I kinda forgot to tell you. You're kind of a legend here," Van said amusedly. "Oh," was all Hitomi could force past her stunned lips. 


	6. Authors Note HELP!

AN: I'm back in college from a six-week break, so I'm not going to  
be able to update as frequently as I wanted. I'm gonna try  
for every other week.  
  
I have a problem as well. I wrote this a long time ago, and  
while I know how I wanted the story to end, I never made a villain for  
them to fight. So if anyone has any ides on why Fanelia burned down  
and such (evil villain, plot to take over the world, whatever) give me  
a message and I'll continue it as soon as I get everything to fit with  
my idea. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Escaflowne. None of the series. This fanfiction is for the sole purpose of entertainment and is not for financial gain.

A/N: I did it! I DID IT! I've come up with an awesome storyline to finish this story with! Sorry it took so long, but my Muse died of coronary arrest and I had to wait for her replacement to show up. Boy was she SLOW!

Hope you guys like what I've come up with!

However, I think I'm going to need someone to assist me in writing this story to help me keep my characters IN character! It would have to be someone who loves Escaflowne, believes Van and Hitomi are destined to be together, and who won't mind beating my brain one or twice a week with much needed and appreciated comments and critiques! If you fit this description, please leave a review to this chapter and I'll get back to you! Credit will be given in every chapter to whomever helps the stupid writer.

Please, readers, keep in mind that I am a rather slow writer, but now that my storyline is finished, I should finish this story in a couple of months once I get someone to help me.

Thanks! I'll be seeing you guys soon!

FLY IN YOUR DREAMS


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